JScreenFix

JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.

Hot (aka stuck) pixels are pixels on an LCD that won't turn off from either R-G-B. JScreenFix is a cleaver way to get rid of them if they are truely stuck. If you have dead pixels which just won't turn on (and look black) then this won't help you at all.

--timball

JScreenFix - Fix stuck pixels and screen burn-in

We have a list of superdelegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention who have officially endorsed a candidate but who is left? Who hasn't made an official endorsement?

Now that the primaries have started we will probably see a wave of endorsements. Let's take a look at which Democratic superdelegates haven't endorsed a candidate yet. Along with our superdelegate list we will be updating this list as new endorsements are made.
This will be an ongoing work in progress so check back often for updates.

Superdelegates highlighted in red are from Michigan or Florida and do not count toward the nomination at this time.

There is no *definitive* webpage that can give you the "accurate" count of delegates, but 2008 demconwatch has been watching the delegate + "superdelagate" counts as closely as they can track.

Superdelegates suck. They're ~ 800 dem big shots that get to vote for whomever they like. And since they're *actual* delegates the votes they cast count slightly more than ours.

--timball

2008 Democratic Convention Watch: Superdelegates who haven't endorsed

Top House Republicans were told in recent days that a former employee of their campaign committee may have forged an official audit during the contentious 2006 election cycle and that they should brace for the possibility that an unfolding investigation could uncover financial improprieties stretching back several years, according to GOP sources briefed on the members-only discussions.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has retained a forensic auditor to review its accounting for the last several election cycles, the sources said.

forensic auditor := Ninja accountants (?)

--timball

NRCC probe scares GOP - Patrick O'Connor and John Bresnahan - Politico.com

You can force the kernel to reuse the TIME_WAIT buckets though, by setting the /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_tw_recycle entry to 1. I have tested this, and it works: very few TIME_WAIT entries will be present when using this setting. It could be however, that using this could affect the reliability of TCP connections. I believe problems may arrise in NAT environments.

This makes those annoying TIME_WAIT connections go away faster...

--timball

TIME_WAIT sockets in Debian GNU/Linux

System Requirements
You will need Sun's Java 2 (or 5), or a Java 2 which includes Sun's JPEG routines, "com.sun.image.codec.jpeg". It is relatively easy to download, and instructions are given below. Apart from that, your system limits only the time taken to "Unshake" an image, and the size of image which can be processed: On a Gigahertz PC with 256 MByte of RAM, it should take less than 5 seconds for a 256 by 256 pixel image, and 4 times that for a 512 by 512 image. On a 300 Megahertz PC, it takes about 3 times as long, and on my little 75 Megahertz PC it used to take nearly 15 minutes for a 512 by 512 pixel image!

RAM is also a consideration: My little PC only had 64 MByte of RAM, so it slowed down a lot if I did anything else with it while it was processing a 512 by 512 pixel image.

So the conclusion is: If you can run Java 2, you can run Unshake, though if you have a small or slow computer, you will have to be patient. A newly bought PC should have no trouble at all running the code.

Unshake is really rad. But like all truely rad pieces of code it's got the world's worst UI.

--timball

Installation

based activation motif (ITAM)-like sequence and two consensus immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIM) in its cytoplasmic region. To evaluate its signaling potential, we expressed constructs for chimeric molecules composed of the cytoplasmic region of FCRL5 and the extracellular and transmembrane regions of the IgG Fc receptor Fc{gamma}RIIB in a B cell line lacking an endogenous Fc receptor. Coligation of this fusion protein with the B cell receptor (BCR) inhibited BCR-mediated calcium mobilization, intracellular tyrosine phosphorylation, and Erk kinase activation. Our mutational analysis indicated that, whereas tyrosines in both the inhibitory and activation motifs are phosphorylated after ligation, only those in ITIMs influence BCR-mediated signaling. This FCRL5 inhibitory effect was mediated through dual ITIM recruitment of the SH2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-1, which in turn dephosphorylates the ITAM-based tyrosines in BCR Ig{alpha}/Igbeta heterodimers. An FCRL5 inhibitory effect on BCR signaling was likewise demonstrable for primary B cells. Although its ligand is presently unknown, we conclude that FCRL5 has the functional potential to serve as an inhibitory coreceptor on mature B cells in humans.

B cell receptor | Fc receptor-like protein 5 | inhibitory | SH2 domain-containing tyrosine phosphatase 1

B cell receptor (BCR) engagement initiates signaling cascades that lead to activation of the Ras-MAPK pathway, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, and phospholipase C {gamma} (PLC{gamma}) (1, 2). The BCR triggering ultimately induces gene expression patterns that can promote cell activation, apoptosis, or anergy, depending upon the balance of enhancing and inhibitory influences that vary according to the stage in B cell differentiation (3). Costimulatory or inhibitory coreceptors on B cells modulate BCR signaling to either enhance or attenuate downstream signaling cascades (4). Inhibitory coreceptors may dampen BCR signaling via an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM) in their cytoplasmic region. When tyrosine phosphorylated, the ITIMs recruit protein tyrosine phosphatases and lipid phosphatases via Src homology 2 (SH2) domain binding to achieve down-regulation or neutralization of BCR-induced activation (5). Conversely, the costimulatory receptors may have their own cytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAM) or they may pair with a transmembrane protein containing one or more ITAMs, whose tyrosines are phosphorylated by src family kinases to allow the recruitment of signaling molecules that promote cellular activation (6). The balance between activating and inhibitory receptor influences can be complicated by their coexpression on individual B cells. Moreover, individual cell surface receptors may possess both activating and inhibitory motifs; their differential engagement, according to ligand specificity and affinity, may trigger inhibitory and/or ac... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Fc receptor-like 5 inhibits B cell activation via SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase recruitment -- Haga et al. 104 (23): 9770 -- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Ajax Security is out and the feedback I'm getting is incredible.

Andrew van der Stock The Executive Director of OWASP reviewed a draft of Ajax Security and here is what he had to say about it:

If you are writing or reviewing Ajax code, you need this book. Billy and Bryan have done a stellar job in a nascent area of our field, and deserve success. Go buy this book. I can’t wait for it to come out.

Is it just a re-hash of old presentations? No. The book breaks some new ground, and fills in a lot of the blanks in all of our presentations and demos. I hadn’t heard of some of these attacks in book form before. The examples improved my knowledge of DOM and other injections considerably, so there’s something there for the advanced folks as well as the newbies.

I really liked the easy, laid back writing style. Billy and Bryan’s text is straightforward and easy to understand. They get across the concepts in a relatively new area of our field.

The structure flows pretty well, building upon what you’ve already learnt ...
there is advanced stuff, but the authors have to bring the newbie audience along for the ride.

Billy and Bryan spend a bit of time repeating the old hoary “no new attacks in Ajax” meme which is big with the popular kids (mainly because their products can’t detect or scan Ajax code yet and still want money from you), and then spend the rest of the book debunking their own propaganda with a wonderful panache that beats the meme into a bloody pulp and buries it for all time.

Some choice quotes from web security guru dre:

The book, Ajax Security, covered a lot of new material that hadn’t been seen or talked about in the press or the security industry. The authors introduced Ajax security topics with ease and provided greater understanding of how to view Javascript malware, tricks, and the aberrant Javascript worms from a security perspective.

Here are some of the “new” concepts that I enjoyed most Hijacking Ajax apps, Attacking Offline Ajax apps, Ajax proxy exposure of third-party XML/JSON data.

I really enjoyed the suggested defenses against “mashup” attacks as well as JSON API Hijacking. Without going into detail (I don’t want to ruin the book and the authors’ hard work), I ca... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Ajax Security Book Out! Awesome buzz!

PROS

* Unusual Intensity, kind of like Altoids for your Eye.
* Makes your eyes very wet, relieves dryness quickly.

CONS

* Redness worsens at first, then fades away slowly.
* Some people will not like the Intense Feeling.

From the land of the rising sun comes relief to all typists who have been staring at an LCD for too long. Or maybe you're a trucker making that long haul from one side of the world to the other... Hell if you're reading this your eyes probably just need that refreshing minty feeling. A couple of quotes about this stuff:

gb:
"I can breathe through my eyes"
"It feels like my eyes just brushed their teeth"

Yup. It's eye care just like jesus intended... stingy.

--timball

Japanese Minty Eye Drops

CAP's '07 holiday party rocked the park at fourteenth. The club/restaurant wasn't yet open to the public so it was an intimate evening amongst friends, colleagues, significant others and general do-gooders.

Excellent vittles and fine spirits were enjoyed by all. Happy Holidays!

--timball

CAP x-mas '07

The 6.370 BattleCode programming competition is a unique challenge that combines battle strategy, software engineering and artificial intelligence. In short, the objective is to write the best player program for the computer game BattleCode.

BattleCode, developed for 6.370, is a real-time strategy game. Two teams of robots roam the screen managing resources and attacking each other with different kinds of weapons. However, in BattleCode each robot functions autonomously; under the hood it runs a Java virtual machine loaded up with its team's player program. Robots in the game communicate by radio and must work together to accomplish their goals.

Teams of one to four students enter 6.370 and are given the BattleCode software and a specification of the game rules in early January. During January, each team develops a player program, which will be run by each of their robots during BattleCode matches. Contestants must master artificial intelligence, pathfinding, distributed algorithms, and network communications to write their player. At the final tournament, the autonomous players are pitted against each other in a dramatic head-to-head tournament. The final rounds of the tournament are played out in front of a live audience, with the top teams receiving cash prizes.

This year we are holding two tournaments. One for MIT students only and one for anyone who wishes to participate. For more details on the two tournaments, see our tournaments page.

6.370 is a great opportunity to learn to program or hone your skills further. We provide lectures on relevant topics to the BattleCode competition. While we do not provide extensive resources on basic programming skills, we may be able to point you in the right direction as you supplement your learning with hands on experience in the competition.

Simulated robot destruction. Now w/ lasers!

--timball

BattleCode